elemental guardians Ch. 2.5

The next day, when the quintet awoke, they did so hearing quite a loud murmuring from outside. Some sort of crowd? A swarm of bees? Who knew? Alyce got out of bed and peered out of the window, and saw a news crew! She opened up the window and shouted down to them.
"Hey! Hey, what's the matter! Have we made the news?"
"Well, not you this time. Your extreme exploits often make the features segment of LBR (Local Breakfast Radio), but this is top live news! We want to know about the flying creature seen heading towards your house yesterday!"
"Oh, you mean me?" Kai leapt out of the window and into the throng of the news crew.
"Well," said the reporter, "you look pretty small… and wingless…"
"Who are you calling wingless?" exclaimed Kai, as air drew towards her, and she transformed upwards twice in succession. The news crew backed away as the reporter commented into her microphone. Meanwhile, Rolf, Ryan, Alyce and Skyote were rushing downstairs and out of the house. "Hey, this is going out live on radio, right?" asked Skyote.
"Yeah, sure is!" replied a crew member.
"Looks like Kai's getting exposure!" said Rolf cheerily. "The city needs to be told of her friendliness! We want people to see her as they see Austin!"
"Well, it looks like we should get the press! Call the photographers! This could be front page local news!"
Later, Kai (back in her first form) was interviewed, telling the whole area about her story, and her powers. Midway through the conversation, a phone call came in.
"Hello? Oh! Oh! Oh, it's a call from the wind-power station! They want you to work part time at the station!"
"Oh, no thanks! I don't need the money; I just want to have fun! Fun with everyone in this city! Want to go meet and greet?"
"Well, we'll let you go. See you!" said the reporter, as the crew packed up.

Later, in the house…

"OK, Kai! We're about to show you how we get down to town!" said Ryan. He entered a store cupboard, and Kai, still curious about this new dimension, followed inside. This store cupboard was massive! It was full of all sorts of extreme sports goods: boards, skates, skis, helmets… one curious board caught Kai's eye, one she had never seen before. It was pretty much the same shape and size as Viktor's hoverboard back in her own dimension, but on the bottom there were two thick towers of metal discs, and at the top were odd bindings with no apparent fastenings, just a raised metal edge.
"Oh, Kai! I see you've found my invention! This is a prototype of my Rhinobord! It's a spring powered board, as you can see. Strong and sturdy too, obviously. Jump from a great height, pull of tricks, and bounce back up for more!
"What about the bindings? No straps, I see…"
"Another of my inventions! Magna-lock bindings! See my boots? See the metal at the side? Magnetised. I can step in, and am locked in? To get out, I just press a switch on the bindings to deactivate the magnet! Pretty cool, huh?"
"Yup! Viktor would be proud."
Ryan picked up a few snowboards. They seemed to be stained with mud.
"Huh? Oh… oh my… do you…"
"Oh yes. Oh. Yes. We. Do. Want to be a pillion passenger? Skyote enjoys it every time!"
"Why, totally sure!"

And so, with their boots on and bindings set, Rolf, Ryan and Alyce pushed off, riding their snowboards down the grassy hill flattening the grass. Skyote was holding on to handles on the back of Rolf's board, Kai hitching a ride on Alyce's. What a way to travel!
Kai was introduced to the peoples of Ashbourne, and they enjoyed her and welcomed her well. Austin came by to say to greet Kai once more. As the days passed, Kai was welcomed even further. Quite possibly reaching the same level of fame as Ryan, Rolf and Alyce, and Austin when in 3rd form. However, every night, still Kai did dream of that yellow circle. And it was not just her…

In the guardians' dimension, the other guardians were suffering from nightmares, just as Kai was. Also, without Kai, air was getting out of whack. The clouds were absent, the winds were silent, there was an eerie sensation everywhere without her. Something had to be done. And so, Viktor came up with a genius idea. He would create his greatest invention yet. A transdimensional portal. It took many weeks to make, but he finally decided he had got it sussed.

Viktor held a big event in town square to mark the launch of the search for Kai.
"Leah has elected to venture into my portal, in a bid to search for Kai. Hopefully, when it senses a guardian entering, it will scan the dimensions and find another guardian… Kai! Leah… good luck."

Leah faced the portal, and gazed into it. A yellow diamond shaped frame, containing a pulsating yellow vortex. "OK… I must do this for our entire dimension. To save it. Kai is needed! I shall save her! HERE! I! GO!"

Leah leapt forward, into the portal. The frame collapsed in on itself, leaving behind a segmented metal block.

"Everyone… in a few minutes, maybe a few hours, the portal will unfold itself, and Kai will re-emerge to us… hopefully…"

And so they waited. Minutes. An hour. Two. Three. Four…

But Kai did not return.

Leah did not make it to Kai.

Viktor had failed. His calculations were wrong.

Leah was stranded in a dimension unknown to any guardian.